1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to mobile equipment and three dimensional (3D) conversion program products and particularly to mobile equipment and 3D conversion program products capable of readily providing a 3D display.
2. Description of the Background Art
In recent years, mobile equipment is increasingly miniaturized and enhanced in function. Furthermore, mobile terminals, mobile personal computers, mobile phones and other similar mobile equipment are provided with a function of a camera. For example, camera-equipped mobile phones have recently started to prevail. They are convenient as they can for example set a picked-up image on an idle screen and transmit a picked-up image on-site to the called.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 10-108152 discloses a mobile information terminal which as part of enhancing mobile equipment in function utilizes parallax from both eyes to provide a stereoscopic display (a 3D display). Utilizing parallax from both eyes to provide a 3D display can add depth to a stereoscopic image displayed, providing a more realistic and lively image than a two dimensional image. As such, this technique is applied in the field of videophone. The mobile information terminal disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 10-108152 is a mobile information terminal of a type provided with two cameras and worn by a user on the arm. The mobile information terminal produces two video images provided with a temporal difference depending on a horizontal component of a subject's motion picked up through the two cameras and provides the images to the viewer's right and left eyes to implement a 3D display. Note that “a 3D display” means providing a stereoscopic display utilizing parallax.
The conventional mobile information terminal disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 10-108152, however, is not economical as the two cameras result in a higher price and an increased power consumption of the terminal.
Desirably, the two cameras picking up an image which is in turn three dimensionally displayed through parallax of human both eyes should be spaced by a distance corresponding to the parallax and in that arrangement pick up an image of a subject. If the distance between the two cameras is maintained while components other than the cameras are arranged, however, the arrangement of the other components is limited by that of the two cameras and the mobile information terminal's miniaturization and degree of freedom in design are impaired.
Furthermore, a moving subject that is picked up through the camera and displayed in a 3D image would in effect hardly provide a sufficient image. In addition, for a user normally using the camera to pick up a 2D image and, as required, pick up a 3D image and displaying the 3D image, only one of the two cameras would normally be used.
In other words, providing two cameras to provide a 3D display is accompanied by the aforementioned problems of higher price, increased power consumption, and impaired miniaturization and design, and it has been an obstacle to practical utilization of a 3D function in mobile equipment terminals. For mobile phones, in particular, there is a demand for reduction in size, weight, cost and the like, and it is difficult to provide mobile phones with two cameras.